All the Good Ones Are Gone

I'm a chick and I'm not even out of my teens yet, so god dammit I'm going to fantasize about one dreamboat. He's gone, as we all know, but that doesn't mean his memory doesn't elude us. River Phoenix, it seems, was manifested from a perfect dream I had in wonderland.



Lets face it, people who die young have this romanticism about them and their lives are kind of glorified. In reality, the kid was sick and lonely. He had a deep whole that he filled with drugs. He lived in secrets that would eventually kill him. It sucks in so many ways. It happens too often and there is nothing romantic about it.

He was perfect to me though.






River's last photoshoot, in 1993. Photographed by Michael Tighe.